PRESS RELEASE

GENEVA, April 6, 2017– The United States administration’s reinstatement of the “Global Gag Rule” in early 2017 undermines crucial funding to a broad range of sexual and reproductive health services and ends up risking advancement of the global development agenda. The US decision to deny future funding for actors like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a major concern, says global church-based network ACT Alliance.

The polarization over the political and practical support to sexual and reproductive health is likely to reduce access to health services and may end up risking lives. It is high time to depoliticize women’s access to health, says ACT Alliance.

The growing political divide over the goals of the global development agenda, less than two years after Agenda 2030 was endorsed by the United Nations member states, risks little progress being made on a number of Sustainable Development Goals.

Good health and well-being for all cannot be secured without adequate access to family planning, age-of-consent minimums, access to sexual and reproductive health care and context-appropriate comprehensive sexual education for all, says ACT Alliance.